Environmental Impacts of Utility-Scale Solar Energy

UC Davis UC Davis Previously Published Works Title Environmental impacts of utility-scale solar energy Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/62w112cg Journal Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 29 ISSN 1364-0321 Authors Hernandez, RR Easter, SB Murphy-Mariscal, ML et al. Publication Date 2014 DOI 10.1016/j.rser.2013.08.041 Peer reviewed eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 29 (2014) 766–779 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/rser Environmental impacts of utility-scale solar energy R.R. Hernandez a,b,n, S.B. Easter b,c, M.L. Murphy-Mariscal d, F.T. Maestre e, M. Tavassoli b, E.B. Allen d,f, C.W. Barrows d, J. Belnap g, R. Ochoa-Hueso h,S.Ravia, M.F. Allen d,i,j a Department of Environmental Earth System Science, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA b Department of Global Ecology, Carnegie Institution for Science, Stanford, CA, USA c Ecofactor, Redwood City, CA, USA d Center for Conservation Biology, University of California, Riverside, CA, USA e Departamento de Biología y Geología, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Móstoles, Spain f Department of Botany and Plant Science, University of California, Riverside, CA, USA g U.S. Geological Survey, Southwest Biological Science Center, Moab, UT, USA h Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, University of Western Sydney, Penrith, 2751, New South Wales, Australia i Department of Biology, University of California, Riverside, CA, USA j Department of Plant Pathology, University of California, Riverside, CA, USA article info abstract Article history: Renewable energy is a promising alternative to fossil fuel-based energy, but its development can require Received 22 February 2013 a complex set of environmental tradeoffs. A recent increase in solar energy systems, especially large, Received in revised form centralized installations, underscores the urgency of understanding their environmental interactions. 29 July 2013 Synthesizing literature across numerous disciplines, we review direct and indirect environmental Accepted 11 August 2013 impacts – both beneficial and adverse – of utility-scale solar energy (USSE) development, including impacts on biodiversity, land-use and land-cover change, soils, water resources, and human health. Keywords: Additionally, we review feedbacks between USSE infrastructure and land-atmosphere interactions and Biodiversity the potential for USSE systems to mitigate climate change. Several characteristics and development Conservation strategies of USSE systems have low environmental impacts relative to other energy systems, including Desert other renewables. We show opportunities to increase USSE environmental co-benefits, the permitting Greenhouse gas emissions Land use and land cover change and regulatory constraints and opportunities of USSE, and highlight future research directions to better Photovoltaic understand the nexus between USSE and the environment. Increasing the environmental compatibility Renewable energy of USSE systems will maximize the efficacy of this key renewable energy source in mitigating climatic and global environmental change. & 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Contents 1. Introduction . 767 2. Environmental impacts of utility-scale solar energy systems . 768 2.1. Biodiversity . 769 2.1.1. Proximate impacts on biodiversity . 769 2.1.2. Indirect and regional effects on biodiversity . 769 2.2. Water use and consumption . 770 2.3. Soil erosion, aeolian sediment transport, and feedbacks to energetic efficiency . 770 2.4. Human health and air quality . 770 2.5. Ecological impacts of transmission lines and corridors . 771 2.6. Land-use and land-cover change . 771 2.6.1. Land-use dynamics of energy systems . 771 2.6.2. Land-use of utility-scale solar energy . 771 2.6.3. Comparing land-use across all energy systems . 773 3. Utility-scale solar energy, land-atmosphere interactions, and climate change . 773 n Corresponding author. Department of Environmental Earth System Science, 51 Dudley Lane, Apt 125, 260 Panama Street, Stanford, CA 94305, USA. Tel.: þ1 650 681 7457. E-mail address: [email protected] (R.R. Hernandez). 1364-0321/$ - see front matter & 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2013.08.041 R.R. Hernandez et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 29 (2014) 766–779 767 3.1. Utility-scale solar energy and albedo . 773 3.2. Utility-scale solar energy and surface roughness . 773 3.3. Utility-scale solar energy and climate change . 773 4. Utility-scale solar energy co-benefit opportunities . 774 4.1. Utilization of degraded lands . 774 4.2. Co-location with agriculture . 775 4.3. Hybrid power systems. 775 4.4. Floatovoltaics . 775 4.5. Photovoltaics in design and architecture . 775 5. Minimizing adverse impacts of solar energy: Permitting and regulatory implications . 775 6. Solar energy and the environment: Future research . 776 6.1. Research questions addressing environmental impacts of utility-scale solar energy systems . 776 6.2. Research questions addressing utility-scale solar energy, land-atmosphere interactions, and climate change. 776 6.3. Research questions addressing utility-scale solar energy co-benefit opportunities . 776 6.4. Research questions addressing permitting and regulatory implications . 776 7. Conclusion.........................................................................................................776 Acknowledgements . 777 References.............................................................................................................777 1. Introduction positive aspects – reduction of greenhouse gases, stabilization of Renewable energy is on the rise, largely to reduce dependency degraded land, increased energy independence, job opportunities, on limited reserves of fossil fuels and to mitigate impacts of acceleration of rural electrification, and improved quality of life in climate change ([58, 110, 150]). The generation of electricity from developing countries [17,126] – that make it attractive in diverse sunlight directly (photovoltaic) and indirectly (concentrating solar regions worldwide. power) over the last decade has been growing exponentially In general, solar energy technologies fall into two broad worldwide [150]. This is not surprising as the sun can provide categories: photovoltaic (PV) and concentrating solar power more than 2500 terawatts (TW) of technically accessible energy (CSP). Photovoltaic cells convert sunlight into electric current, over large areas of Earth′s surface [82,125] and solar energy whereas CSP uses reflective surfaces to focus sunlight into a beam technologies are no longer cost prohibitive [9]. In fact, solar power to heat a working fluid in a receiver. Such mirrored surfaces technology dwarfs the potential of other renewable energy tech- include heliostat power towers (flat mirrors), parabolic troughs nologies such as wind- and biomass-derived energy by several (parabolic mirrors), and dish Stirling (bowl-shaped mirrors). The orders of magnitude [150]. Moreover, solar energy has several size and location of a solar energy installation determines whether Fig. 1. Annual installed grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) capacity for utility-scale (420 MW) solar energy schemes and distributed solar energy schemes (i.e., non- residential and residential) in the United States. Total PV capacity was 900 MW in 2010; approximately double the capacity of 2009. Data reprinted from Sherwood [114]. Photo credits: RR Hernandez, Jeff Qvale, National Green Power. 768 R.R. Hernandez et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 29 (2014) 766–779 it is distributed or utility-scale. Distributed solar energy systems environmental properties underscores the importance of under- are relatively small in capacity (e.g.,o1 megawatt [MW]). They standing environmental interactions associated with solar energy can function autonomously from the grid and are often integrated development, especially at regional and global scales and how into the built environment (e.g., on rooftops of residences, com- these impacts may reduce, augment, or interact with drivers of mercial or government buildings; solar water heating systems; global environmental change. portable battlefield and tent shield devices; [25,102]). Distributed Here, we provide a review of current literature spanning solar contrasts strikingly with utility-scale solar energy (USSE) several disciplines on the environmental impacts of USSE systems, enterprises, as the latter have relatively larger economies of scale, including impacts on biodiversity, water use and consumption, high capacity (typically 41 MW), and are geographically centralized soils, human health, and land-use and land-cover change, and —sometimes at great distances from where the energy will be land-atmosphere interactions, including the potential for USSE consumed and away from population centers. In the United States systems to mitigate climate change. Drawing from this review, we (US), solar energy has grown steadily over the past decade and show (1) mechanisms to integrate USSE environmental co-benefit rapidly in recent years (Fig. 1). The USSE capacity in this country opportunities, (2) permitting and regulatory issues related to quadrupled in 2010 from 2009, while both residential and nonresi- USSE, and (3) highlight key research needs to better understand dential capacity increased over 60% during that same period. Similar

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